Pumpkin Palooza

Sparks Victorian SquareOctober 19, 2013 -October 20, 2013

Celebrate all things pumpkin!

Downtown Sparks will be celebrating all things pumpkin the weekend of October 19-20, when the Northern Nevada Center for Independent Living kicks off PumpkinPalooza 2013.
Over the course of this weekend, families will be able to:

• Build and race a pumpkin in the Pumpkin Derby
• Participate in the children’s costume parade
• Enjoy storytelling in the Haunted School House
• Visit with fortune-tellers on the Ghost Train
• Play carnival style games from Circus Circus
• Compete in pie-eating, pumpkin seed spitting, and mummy wrapping contests
• Enter their pumpkins in the beauty contest
• Enjoy live music
• Finish their day with the official Lighting of the Pumpkins!

It will be tons of food old-fashion fun for the family. Pumpkin carving contests, carnival games and live music. Held on Sparks Victorian Square, the harvest festival benefits the Nevada Nevada Center for Independent Living.

If you’re the master of the carving knife (or possibly glue gun) and you’ve poured your talent (and glitter and possibly feathers and eyeballs) into creating your Jack-O-Lantern masterpiece, then show it off at this beauty contest!

Pumpkin Derby

Build a pumpkin racer and enter the race! The races are fun to watch but it’s even more fun when you’re competing.

Pumpkin Seed Spitting Contest

If you’re a good spitter, meet us at the activities stage at 2:45 p.m. The person who spits their pumpkin seeds the farthest wins!

Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest

The winners are chosen by audience applause, so style, flair and humor count as much as anything.

Story Telling in the "Haunted" Schoolhouse

Bring your kids to the Glendale School (being haunted for the occasion) for some scary stories, especially selected for PumpkinPalooza!

Fortune Tellers on the Ghost Train

Visit the City of Sparks historic Pullman executive train and get your fortune told by psychics for $10 for 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Lighting

The PumpkinPalooza will culminate with a bone-chillingly fun dance ceremony before the official lighting of the pumpkins just as the sun is setting!